


hold your breath

by spideywhiteys



Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [52]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Naruto - Freeform, Gen, Natural Disasters, Survival Horror, Tidal Waves, it's very 2012 end of the world vibes, sort of... well it's the start of a survival situation, sudden catastrophe, sudden onset end of the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29624829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys
Summary: Minato will not let this be the end of them.
Relationships: Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina
Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [52]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086938
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	hold your breath

**Author's Note:**

> Day 52: Natural Disaster AU / Minato + Naruto

At the start, the storm is just that: a storm. A howling wind and a flurry of sharp, biting rain drops. It comes quickly and without warning, soaking any who find themselves outside. It’s violent, brutal, and only getting worse. There was no sign, no message from the weather forecast, no change in the air that humans could sense.

Minato is exiting the bank when it happens, Naruto at his heels. His son is five and hard to control, with too much energy and a penchant for stirring up trouble. Minato wouldn’t change a thing about him. They walk hand in hand, because as much as Minato loves him, he doesn’t trust Naruto to not get distracted and walk off. 

It starts with the animals. Like in a horror movie, they’d all stopped — frozen in time for a single moment. The birds took flight, a wave of black, fluttering bodies over the sky. Terrible and terrifying. Minato is shocked enough to pause and stare just as they get to the car.

Naruto’s eyes are just as wide, a gasp echoing like a shotgun in the sudden silence. A prickling sense of unease begins to build at the back of Minato’s neck, as if every hair has decided to stand up at once. Naruto flinches into his leg when the barking starts — dogs pulling at leashes and running from frantic, confused owners. Some even risk fleeing into the streets, cars still moving at a steady pace.

“Dad?”

Minato kneels down and hoists Naruto up on his hip. The child isn’t as small or as light as he used to be. “It’s okay, Naruto. Let’s just head home, alright? We’ll watch that movie you’ve been looking forward to.”

Naruto’s azure eyes sparkle, his trepidation put on the back-burner. “The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi!”

“Yes!” Minato laughs, and pulls open the car door. He buckles Naruto into the car seat and  _ that’s _ when the rain hits. 

Like the heavens have decided to drop a bucket of water on them all at once, the rain begins as abruptly and fiercely as a showerhead. No build up, no starting drizzle. The clouds had snuck up on them, and the winds pick up with every second that passes.

Minato’s getting a very bad feeling about this. Something just doesn’t feel right — not with the animals acting the way they are. Animals always know. He flashes Naruto another smile before shutting the door and moving around to the driver’s side. It takes barely two seconds, but he’s already soaked. Pedestrians flee the streets, and visibility is already low enough to warrant extreme caution while driving. It’s so tense, he can’t even bring himself to turn on the radio.

He puts all his effort into driving. He can’t even be sure he’s stopping at the right lights or for stop signs, it’s difficult enough to make out which side of the road he’s on. At least everyone else is also moving at a crawl, it’s probably the only thing that’s saving them all from fifty million accidents in a one mile radius. Not that there aren’t any. They end up passing quite a few on their drive, car hazards flashing through the deluge.

_ This feels too sudden. _

“Dad?”

“Daddy’s focusing right now, Naruto. Why don’t you play with your toy for a little bit, just until we get home?”

Naruto huffs a bit, and it sounds like his pudgy hand is knocking against his window. “But dad, there’s a big shadow coming.”

_ What? _ He thinks.

“What?” He says, and glances to the side.

In the distance, through the fog and curtain of rain, there is a massive shape swelling. It’s higher than the blurred shapes of buildings, tall enough to touch the white sky.

And that’s when he hears the screaming under all the rain. 

White in the face, Minato forgets about being safe and steps on the gas. Naruto shrieks as the car swerves and moves dangerously, but there’s no time to stop. There’s no time to contemplate. They either drive and possibly get out or they die, via crashing or drowning. This is absolutely not how he saw his day going.

The morning had been so normal. Sunny with a few clouds in the sky. There hadn’t even been rain on the forecast, never mind a tidal wave sweeping over the city! How had no one noticed it building? Shouldn’t the size of it warrant a bit of concern? Had no one thought about the tide pulling back?

Minato zips by dark, blurry shapes that might be people and might be cars. He likes to think that he’s the type to sacrifice it all for others — has even been told off for doing too much too quickly and letting himself get used. But he doesn’t stop. He can’t. He  _ won’t. _

Naruto is with him.  _ Naruto  _ is buckled up just behind him, his own child, his own flesh and blood — the personification of Minato’s heart outside his body. And there is a tidal wave coming. Minato is perhaps a kind man, but he is also a parent. He would kill a man for his son, and only hesitate to express apologies.

They aren’t moving fast enough. 

It’s too hard to see, the roads too wet and obscured. They scrape along other cars, bump onto sidewalks, thunk violently over a speed bump — and it’s so  _ hard _ to tell where they are, where they’re going, when all they can do is try to move forward faster than the wave. 

It’s impossible.

The wave only grows larger, moving closer and closer like it’s picking up speed rather than settling into the splashing, swirling end. It’s a dark, angry mass, eating up everything in its path. Closer, closer, swallowing shapes behind them that must be buildings, must be cars, must be people and life. It is coming, and they will be next.

And Naruto is screaming, screaming, screaming.

“It’s okay,” Minato says, voice barely heard over all the noise. 

Naruto whimpers, so small and so terrified in his little car seat. 

“It’s okay,” Minato repeats. “I’m here with you, always.”

What do you do when a wall of water crashes down behind you, reaching forward with greedy fingers to suck you into the void to be swallowed whole? Minato can’t even believe this is happening right now, and he feels numb with the adrenaline. There’s no point in driving anymore, not when the water is inches away and hungry. He looks back at his son, at the blue eyes and blonde hair and round face — the face he got from Kushina — the red, red cheeks and tears and mouth half-full of missing teeth.

The water catches them.

* * *

The seatbelt leaves a bruise across Minato’s chest. 

He knows it’s there from the terrible throbbing, the tingling of shock. He blinks his eyes and realizes the car has stopped rolling, pressed tight against a building. They are submerged in water, and it’s trickling in. Miraculously, the windows haven’t blown out yet, but every single one is filled with spiderweb cracks and threatening to break at any second. 

He unbuckles his seatbelt, maneuvering awkwardly because the car is on its side. Naruto blinks at him blearily, looking pale and shaken. When he sees Minato reaching for him, his vision seems to clear a little more. They both lost a few minutes from the trauma of being thrown around, Minato can tell by the sharp ache in his head, and the wetness crawling down his temple. Naruto doesn’t look like he’s bleeding, but his eyes are still wet and his body will likely suffer the effects of severe whiplash.

But he’s alive, and that’s all Minato can really care about right now.

“I’m going to unbuckle you, buddy. Is anything hurting really bad?”

Naruto shakes his head. “I’m okay.” He sniffs, face screwed up in his effort to look tough.

Minato laughs gently. “You’re being really brave right now, Naruto. I’m proud of you.”

The situation looms over him. They don’t have much longer in the car. Seconds, even. But outside is just water, and he can’t even tell how far up the surface is with how dark and violent it is. The car being pinned is a blessing, but it doesn’t much help them once they’re out of it.

Minato brushes a lock of golden hair, hair like his own, and stares into matching cerulean eyes. “We’re going to get back to your mother, I swear it.”

Naruto beams, stronger than any five year old in the world because he’s  _ Minato’s.  _ He’s  _ Kushina’s. _ He’s their child and Minato believes he can do anything. 

“I know, believe it!”


End file.
